Rude, $-grubbing Local Dive Shops
- Thread starter ringmod65
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
- Messages
- 10,951
- Reaction score
- 4,150
- # of dives
- None - Not Certified
Kinda' kinky, but as long as everyone agreed. It wouldn't play in the Midwest, but you Easterners are edgy.
I'm just happy when they wear wet
Tied her up. Yowzah. :cool2: You guys still married?
divewithjay
Contributor
Thats a pretty horrible way to treat people, sounds like some crummy instructors. I can't imagine any reason to be yelling at or insulting students.
Find a good shop and stick with them, not all places are just interested in getting in your wallet. We treat people the way we like to be treated and while our stuff may or may not be as cheap as the online places, we're pretty close. That said I've had entire classes try to return gear at the dive site which means I end up hauling it all back, spending half a day cleaning it and burning up a ton of gas on the 2 hour ride back. I don't mind helping people out in a pinch but everyone abused it because they just didn't feel like driving back to the shop.
Find a good shop and stick with them, not all places are just interested in getting in your wallet. We treat people the way we like to be treated and while our stuff may or may not be as cheap as the online places, we're pretty close. That said I've had entire classes try to return gear at the dive site which means I end up hauling it all back, spending half a day cleaning it and burning up a ton of gas on the 2 hour ride back. I don't mind helping people out in a pinch but everyone abused it because they just didn't feel like driving back to the shop.
RonFrank
Contributor
I've never had one experience with an LDS as bad as any of yours.
Maybe it's east coast, big city, bad attitude sorts, but I can not imagine that any instructor could earn a living for long with such a crappy attitude.
I've had a couple less than fun trips to local LDS's with management that was obviously extremely worried about internet competition. One owner was so negative that I could not wait to get out of the store. The sad thing is I was a new diver, and doing a tour of the Denver LDS's to see what each carried, pricing, etc.. This idiot was questioning my internet buying habits almost before greeting me! I just wanted to check out his shop for potential training/purchasing, but I've never been back.
Talk to divers on SB, get some local recommendations, and try them out for your instruction needs. It sounds like going a bit out of the way may be worth it with the bad experiences you have listed.
Maybe it's east coast, big city, bad attitude sorts, but I can not imagine that any instructor could earn a living for long with such a crappy attitude.
I've had a couple less than fun trips to local LDS's with management that was obviously extremely worried about internet competition. One owner was so negative that I could not wait to get out of the store. The sad thing is I was a new diver, and doing a tour of the Denver LDS's to see what each carried, pricing, etc.. This idiot was questioning my internet buying habits almost before greeting me! I just wanted to check out his shop for potential training/purchasing, but I've never been back.
Talk to divers on SB, get some local recommendations, and try them out for your instruction needs. It sounds like going a bit out of the way may be worth it with the bad experiences you have listed.
ScubaSteve2000
Contributor
I admire your desire to keep diving. I can't believe some of those instructors! I guess military or police style training is all well and good, if you're in the military or the police acadamy. But they aren't paying hundreds of dollars and they're already in an environment where they're getting yelled at all the time. They expect it.
Lets face it, all the OW training does is teach you how not to die. AOW teaches you how not to die while doing five "specialties". BTW, I'm an old guy and I've found that folks who have to shout, like a barking dog, are usually afraid of something and those that belittle others are usually inadequate in some way. And some folks take themselves way to seriously.
All that being said you overcame it and them and made it to Rescue Diver in spite of their best (worst?) efforts. Congrats. Maybe now you should seek out a mentor and really learn the art of diving. If your goal is DM or Master Diver find an independant instructor that doesn't have a Sgt. Slaughter complex. I know there are some out there. Get your gear on the internet and dive locally with your fellow SBrs. Other than fills you won't have to deal with the LDS's at all. You can even schedule and plan dive trips on the internet. So go forth and Dive.
Steve.
Oh yeah, I guess I should actually answer your post...
I have about a dozen local dive shops available to me here in the Valley of the Sun, half of them within five miles of me. With that kind of competition if somebody acted like you described, they would be out of business but quick. My usual LDS is a great group with good instructors. Other than my rescue class (which I took from some very good independant instructors), I learned more from diving with more experienced divers than I learned in either my OW or AOW classes.
Lets face it, all the OW training does is teach you how not to die. AOW teaches you how not to die while doing five "specialties". BTW, I'm an old guy and I've found that folks who have to shout, like a barking dog, are usually afraid of something and those that belittle others are usually inadequate in some way. And some folks take themselves way to seriously.
All that being said you overcame it and them and made it to Rescue Diver in spite of their best (worst?) efforts. Congrats. Maybe now you should seek out a mentor and really learn the art of diving. If your goal is DM or Master Diver find an independant instructor that doesn't have a Sgt. Slaughter complex. I know there are some out there. Get your gear on the internet and dive locally with your fellow SBrs. Other than fills you won't have to deal with the LDS's at all. You can even schedule and plan dive trips on the internet. So go forth and Dive.
Steve.
Oh yeah, I guess I should actually answer your post...
I have about a dozen local dive shops available to me here in the Valley of the Sun, half of them within five miles of me. With that kind of competition if somebody acted like you described, they would be out of business but quick. My usual LDS is a great group with good instructors. Other than my rescue class (which I took from some very good independant instructors), I learned more from diving with more experienced divers than I learned in either my OW or AOW classes.
Scubadaddy
Contributor
I haven't had any bad experiences yet but my parents got screwed around by one of our LDS after changing their mind on a purchase. Already participating in the $99 PADI OW courses, they each bought full sets of gear (BCDs, regulators, masks, fins, snorkels, boots, hoods, tanks, and wetsuits) and then decided they didn't want the tanks & regs (which were to be ordered and shipped to the LDS as they weren't in stock). My parents changed their minds before the tanks & regs were ordered by the LDS and after two weeks of nagging they finally got their money for the tanks & regs back. They also gave my dad a used BCD and told him it was new (there was minor wear on the suit, even some fading of the 'SHERWOOD' emblem on the front) and after another verbal bout with the shop owner, the BCD was finally replaced with a brand new one.
With 2 OW dives out of the way by this point the attitude of the LDS changed. All of a sudden they were being bumped from 'full classes' and not being called for open ones. After several weeks they inquired about hiring a private instructor to meet with the two of them so they could finish their last 2 dives. They were told 'no' by the shop, and only after asking for a referral to another local shop did they finally arrange for an instructor to meet them for dive #3. The instructor was an ass, constantly rolling his eyes at them and shaking his head. My dad actually scratched his dive because he was frustrated with the attitude he was getting from the instructor (my mom chose to go anyway and toughed it out). That was the last straw for them and eventually got a referral to a better outfit (after another few weeks of nagging).
With 2 OW dives out of the way by this point the attitude of the LDS changed. All of a sudden they were being bumped from 'full classes' and not being called for open ones. After several weeks they inquired about hiring a private instructor to meet with the two of them so they could finish their last 2 dives. They were told 'no' by the shop, and only after asking for a referral to another local shop did they finally arrange for an instructor to meet them for dive #3. The instructor was an ass, constantly rolling his eyes at them and shaking his head. My dad actually scratched his dive because he was frustrated with the attitude he was getting from the instructor (my mom chose to go anyway and toughed it out). That was the last straw for them and eventually got a referral to a better outfit (after another few weeks of nagging).
Dive shops have to be money-grubbing or they won't be in business for long. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just the way things work. If you want it for free, don't be surprised when you get what you paid for.
Rude and sleazy, however, are bad for business. If you find yourself being treated this way, go somewhere else. If all the shops are treating you this way, you might pause to consider if you're provoking them.
Mom was right, you usually get what you give. Relationships are often self-fulfilling prophecies, if you treat people as accomplices instead of adversaries you might find a world of difference in how they treat you.
My gut feeling on LDS's is that there are some that suck...as there are students who are similar. Going to the "$99 scuba" place is more a reflection of the person who picks price over everything and gets none of them.
However, I am willing to bet that both the students and the shops in NJ/NY are a bit "edgier" than in most of the rest of the world.
However, I am willing to bet that both the students and the shops in NJ/NY are a bit "edgier" than in most of the rest of the world.
sixgears
Contributor
IMHO shops do have to make money; it's a business after all. But why can't they just be upfront with people and spell it out right there and then so there would be no surprises and people do not feel like they're being scammed. I don't care if you're in the middle of NYC or in some small town some place. You have to treat customers with some level of respect but, it's a two-way street.
Similar threads
